In recent years, every effort has been made to develop flat-panel displays. In particular, liquid crystal displays have been attracting attention due to the advantages thereof such as reduced weights, thicknesses, and power consumption. In particular, in connection with active matrix liquid crystal displays in which a switching element is incorporated in each pixel, a structure that utilizes lateral electric fields (including fringe electric fields) has been gathering attention, for example, a structure based on an IPS (In-Plane Switching) mode or an FFS (Fringe Field Switching) mode. A liquid crystal display in the lateral electric field mode comprises pixel electrodes and counter electrodes formed on an array substrate and switches liquid crystal molecules using electric lateral fields that are almost parallel to the principal surface of the array substrate.
On the other hand, a technique has been proposed which switches the liquid crystal molecules by forming lateral electric fields or oblique electric fields between pixel electrodes formed on an array substrate and counter electrodes formed on a counter substrate.